Kylian Mbappe left PSG for Real Madrid in the summer of 2024. Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
Kylian Mbappe, one of soccer’s biggest stars, is owed €60million ($76m) in unpaid salary and bonuses by his former club Paris Saint-Germain.
Tuesday’s decision at the Paris labour court was the latest twist in a bitter dispute between the reigning European champions and their record goalscorer that has seen their relationship collapse.
Both sides had appeared before the court on November 17, with Mbappe’s team claiming for €263m in total, while PSG filed a counterclaim against the 26-year-old, seeking around €440m in damages.
The captain of the France national team was partially successful with his claim, as the court ruled that PSG failed to pay Mbappe his wages for April, May and June 2024 — the months before his free transfer to Real Madrid — as well as his ethics and signing bonus. The owed payments amounted to €60m.
“This ruling confirms that commitments entered into must be honoured. It restores a simple truth: even in the professional football industry, employment law applies to everyone,” Mbappe’s legal team said in a statement, shared with The Athletic.
As reported last week, the long-running dispute stemmed from a “gentlemen’s agreement” that PSG said had been agreed on August 13, 2023. That came after Mbappe sent the club a letter in June 2023 explaining that he did not wish to exercise the one-year option to extend his contract until June 2025.
PSG said two options were set out under that deal. The first involved Mbappe extending his contract until June 2025, allowing the club to sell him for a hefty transfer fee. The second was that, if he chose not to extend, but instead decided to leave on a free transfer in summer 2024, he would give various financial entitlements to soften the blow of losing him for nothing.
In response to that, Mbappe’s lawyers insisted no evidence of any agreement had ever been proven.
On May 10, 2024, Mbappe formally announced he was leaving PSG on a free transfer that summer. He later joined Real Madrid.
As a result, three days later, PSG said they were enacting option two of the August 13 agreement.
According to PSG’s legal documents, shared with The Athletic, that meant not paying Mbappe his €36.6m gross signing bonus due at the end of February 2024, as well as suspending payments from April 2024 (totalling €17.25m) until the end of his contract on June 30, 2024.
However, Mbappe’s lawyers always maintained that PSG must pay him what he was owed.
On Tuesday, the court sided with Mbappe, stating that PSG must pay the French striker his wages and bonuses for April, May and June 2024.
However, the court dismissed Mbappe’s additional claims, including reclassification as a permanent contract, psychological harassment, undeclared work and reputational damage.
The court rejected all of PSG’s demands.
In their statement, Mbappe’s legal team said: “Mr Mbappe fully and scrupulously respected his sporting and contractual obligations for seven years, right up to the final day. He did everything possible to avoid litigation, even going so far as to withdraw a harassment complaint in a spirit of conciliation. In total, he had been seeking payment of his wages and bonuses for more than 18 months.
“This decision marks an important step beyond his personal case, for all players and employees in the sector. It represents a victory for the rule of law and respect for commitments, not a conflict between individuals.”
In response, PSG said in a statement, shared with The Athletic: “Paris Saint-Germain takes note of the judgment pronounced by the Paris Labor Court, which it will execute, while reserving the right to appeal. Paris Saint-Germain has always acted in good faith and with integrity, and will continue to do so. The club is now looking to the future, based on unity and collective success, and wishes the player the best for the rest of his career.”
Mbappe arrived at PSG from Monaco on August 31, 2017, on an initial one-year loan, before joining in a permanent €180m transfer on a four-year deal. He went on to spend seven years at the club, winning six Ligue 1 titles and scoring a record 256 goals.
In the summer of 2021, with one year left on his contract, there was an expectation that Mbappe would depart, especially after he turned down two extension offers. However, PSG rebuffed two bids from Real Madrid.
Mbappe signed a new contract in May 2022 and was paraded around the Parc des Princes holding a shirt aloft with his name and 2025 on the back. But the deal was actually a two-year contract extension until the summer of 2024, with the option of extending for a further year.
Mbappe went on to score 41 goals the following campaign, landing another Ligue 1 title, but things turned sour the next summer.
In their legal arguments, PSG said they received a letter from Mbappe on June 12, 2023, informing the club he didn’t want to exercise his option to extend for another year. They claimed that the letter was backdated to July 15, 2022, just two months after he had signed his contract extension.
At the November 17 hearing, Delphine Verheyden, Mbappe’s lawyer, said the letter was sent in the interests of transparency, to make it clear he wasn’t going to extend for an extra year, as reported by RMC. Mbappe’s legal team didn’t respond to further questions when asked by The Athletic.
Eager to avoid losing Mbappe for nothing the following summer, he was placed on the transfer list in the summer of 2023 and excluded from PSG’s pre-season tour to Japan.
What was the ‘gentleman’s agreement’ that the dispute stemmed from?
Analysis from football news reporter Tom Burrows, earlier this month
After Mbappe was left out of the PSG squad for their opening match of the 2023-24 season, PSG claim an agreement was then reached between the two sides on August 13.
PSG claimed Mbappe initiated the agreement in a letter sent on August 11. In this letter, PSG claim that Mbappe offered to reduce (by €55m gross) the bonuses due for the 2023-24 season, as long as he was reinstated in the PSG squad. The deferred payment was only payable if he remained at the club — he would not receive it if he left on a free transfer in 2024.
Two options were set out under that deal, according to PSG. The first involved Mbappe extending his contract for the 2024-25 season, allowing the club to bank a transfer fee of €180m.
The second was that, if he chose not to extend, he would hand back various financial entitlements to compensate the club for a free transfer in the summer of 2024.
However, Thomas Clay, one of Mbappe’s lawyers, told a press conference on April 10, 2025, that it was a “fairy tale” to suggest any agreement had been reached in August 2023 between PSG and Mbappe, as reported by Le Monde.
On May 10, Mbappe publicly confirmed he was leaving on a free transfer that summer.
Three days later, PSG said they sent a letter to Mbappe’s legal team explaining they were applying the second option of the August 13 agreement.
According to their legal arguments, this involved not paying Mbappe his €36.6m gross signing bonus due at the end of February 2024, as well as suspending payments from April 2024 (totalling €17.25m) until the end of his contract on June 30, 2024.
In response, Mbappe’s legal team sent PSG a letter on May 31 demanding the club pay the striker what they said he was owed.
In their view, PSG felt this went against the “gentlemen’s agreement” they had agreed “in good faith” in that August 13 meeting, which they reminded Mbappe of in a letter on June 10. Mbappe’s legal team are adamant that no evidence of any agreement has ever been proven.
